Device for replacing checker bricks



June 24, 1930. B. D, BROWN 1,767,832

DEVICE FOR REPLACING CHEQKER BRICKS' Filed Oct. 3, 1927 I 42 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented June `24,v1930 UNiTED STATI-:sv

PATENT oFFicE( :BANKS D. BROWN, OF CONNEiLLSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR -TO CAPSTAN GLASS COMPANY, F CONNELLSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE DEVICE non REPLACING cHEoxER -BnIoKs iipiieation fiieaeetober 3, 1927. seriai no. 223,539.

The present invention relatesto furnaces and more particularly to a device for removing and replacing checker Work in the checker chambers thereof.

the checker chambers to the furnace proper.

Air and fuel are supplied separately'to the.

two chambers on one side where they are preheated and delivered to the furnace tov be mixed and burned. The exhaust gases leave through the two' checker chambers on the opposite Aside of the furnace, which absorb a portion of the Waste heat therein. Accordingly, the checker chambers are pre-.- heated. on one side by the' exhaust gases While the chambers on the other sid'e are being cooled by theincoming air and fuel. At intervals of about thirty minutes the direction of the gases is reversed so that the chambers which Were receiving the exhaust gases are permitted to receive and` preheat the air and fuel, While the.k chambers which were cooled by the air and fuel receive the exhaust gases. In this Way the Waste heat in the exhaustgases is'utilized for preheating thefuel and air prior to its entry to the furnace. 'The advantages of this are two-fold; first, there is a recovery of waste energy from the exhaust gases; and secondly, by preheatingl the air and fuel the operating temperature of the furnace is materially increased. The latter is quite important particularly Where fuels `are used Which'produce loW flame temperatures.

@ne of the objections to regenerative furnaces is that the checker Work accumulates a considerable amount of deleterious mattersuch as soot, dust and the like, which impairs its efficiency. The soot and dust, be ing poor conductors of heat, prevent the checker Work from absorbing heat from the Waste gases andvlikewise make it difficult for the incoming fuel and -air to absorb heat from the checker Work. It has been the custom in the past, and it is necessary from furnace and permittingit -and its charge of glass to cool so that Workmen could enter 'the vchambers to remove and replace the brick forming the checker Work., l

. Such procedure is extremely expensive because of the loss of service of the glass fur nace and particularly because several days are required to bring the batch of glass back to Working condition, and even then the resulting glass is never as good as if it had i not been subjected to this loss of temperature. An additional expense is due to the fact that all of the checker brick is removed While only those portions beneath the ports vide adevice for replacing the Worn checker bricks Without interfering materially With the operation of the furnace.

Another object of the invention` is to minimize the time and labor consumed in the replacement of checker brick.

A further object of the invention is to minimize the cost of the replacement of art upon reading the description or upon employment of the invention in practice.

A preferred embodiment of the invention 70 An object of 'the present invention is to 25 not shown in detail.

9 lead upwardly to the ports 10 of the fuif has been chosen for purposegsfof illustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a top plan View of a portion of the furnace;

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view partly in section illustrating one form of furnace to which the present invention is applicable;

Fig. 3 is a side elevational View with one o of the arches opened showing a truck with checker work mounted thereon; and

Fig. l is a detailed view illustrating a truck partially removed from the checker' chamber. Y Referring to/the drawings there is shown a glass furnace adapted to receive a batch of glass at 1. The glass is melted and kept at the proper temperature by means of the combustion of gases issuing directly from the respective sides of the melting furnace. e On one side of the furnace is a pair of checker chambers t and 5 shown in section in Fig.l2, and on the other side ofthe furlHace is a corresponding pair of chambers, Suitable flues 8 and nace. The side 'walls of the furnace as well as the side walls and other portions of the checker chambers may be formed from the' usual type of refractory brickvused in this Class of Work. Extending below the checker chambers are flues 11 and 12 which are connected to the pipes A and B.

The pipes A and B and dampers 14 and 35 15 respectively, areshown in broken lines to illustrate diagrammatically one arrangement whereby the iiues 11 and 12 and the corresponding checker chambers may be connected respectively to air and fuel gas 40while -the checker chambers on the other side of the furnace are connected to the stack. The dampers shown herein are diagrammatically illustrated as movable in two positions at substantially right angles to each other and with the fuel pipe 16 eX- tending downwardly and the stack pipe 17 extending upwardly therefrom. It will be understood that when the damper is turned in one direction one side of the pipe B will be connected to the stack and the other to -the supply of fuel. 'It will also be understood that the air pipe A and the damper therein operate in a similar manner.

In the operation of such a furnace, gas

and air respectively are supplied through the pipes A and B and How upwardly through the checker chambers 18 and 19 where it is preheated and delivered independently to the flues 8 and 9 passing lthrough the port 10 into the melting furnace y1where the gaseous fuel and air miX and burn. In this way glass in the melting furnace is maintained at the proper temperature and the waste gases flow out through the 5 ports 10 on the opposite side of the furnace igeaeea through fiues similar to 8 and 9 and through checkerqchambers similar to 4e and 5 which absorb a substantial part of their heat. Thereafter, the gases pass through pipes A and B to the stack. In this way while the checker chambers e and 5 are preheating air and fuel, the corresponding 'checker chainbers on the other side of the furnace are being heated by the waste gases. About every thirty minutes it beco-mes necessary to reverse the direction of the gases so that the entering gases will pass through the heated checker chambers and the exhaust gases will flow through the chambers which have been previously cooled by being used as the preheating chambers., This is done by means of the dampers previously described.

The glass in such furnaces is not permitted to cool, even atnight, due to the factthat a long period of time is required to remelt it and due further to the fact that ar ticles fabricated from remelted glass do not have the same quality as they other-wise would have had. After a considerable 'period of time, siX months or a year, de-

pendent upon the type of fuel used, the checker brick becomes clogged or at least thickly coated with soot, dust, dirt, and v considerable time and labor as well as the loss of production for several days. In addition, as pointed out above, the glass in the melting furnace having hardened, has to be remelted and its quality is materially affected.

The present invention avoids these disadvantages by providing a series of arches 21 on the respective side walls of the checker chambers directly beneath the flues 8 and 9 and the ports 10 leading to the melting furnace. Adjacent these arches and beneath the iiues 8 and 9T small trucks 22 of special construction, are mounted in' the checker chambers. A section of'checker brick is mounted upon the trucks and segregated from the remaining checker brick in the checker chambers. The truck and checker brick mounted thereon are of vproper size to pass readily through the arches 2l when the portion of the chamber wall thereunder is removed. Since, in the operation of the furnace, the deposits are formed almost entirely beneath the ports 10, the checker work on the truck will be chiefly affected. When the. efficiency of thefurnace has become impaired, suitable extra trucks may be prollO within the chamber rolled out with the checker brick thereon andthe truck with the new checker brick rolledimto Yreplace it. The arches 2l in the side walls of the chambers will permit the removal of the portions 23 .Without damage to the other portions of the wall of the checker chambers. The opening formed is adequate to permit the removal of the segregated section of checker brick mounted upon the truck. The portions 23 ofthe checker chamber may be similar to the main walls in which case the bricks can be removed and replaced individually; or, if desired, the portions 23 may be specially constructed to permit removal of sections thereof.

yThe temporary opening in the wall of the checker chambers for the removal of the truck may be made and closed rapidly. During this short period the gas may be shut off, without interfering materially. with the operation of the furnace, since th'e batch of glass, being a poor conductor of heat, is not affected by external changes in temperature, which are of short duration. Before any appreciable change'can be noted in the molten glass, the'replacement of a section of checker brick may be effected and the supply of fuel wto the combustion chamber resumed. In this manner the loss occasioned heretofore by the inferior quality of glass, caused by permitting the furnace to Cool and the glass to harden so that workmen could remove and replace the worn i checker brick, is eliminated. Continuous use of the furnace is also assured.

It will be seen that the present invention contemplates the removal of the Worn portions of the checker brick in a minimum time Without interfering materially with th operation of the furnace. Further, the `cost of constructing the furnace is not materially increased and the invention may be applied to existing furnaces at a minimum cost. The trucks may be inexpensively manufactured and used repeatedly. By removing only a portion of the checker brick a substantial savingis attained and the removals may be made more frequently thereby` increasing materially the efficiency of the furnace.

As various changes may be made inthe above embodiment without departing from the spirit of the invention, it is to be understood that all .matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim: l. In a regenerative glass furnace, the combination of checker chambers associated therewith, passages leadin from said chambers to said furnace, w ereby certain of said chambers may be used to preheat the incoming gases and other chambers may receive the exhaust gases and absorb heat therefrom, segregated sections of checker 4 er work removed as a unit without deranging adjacent checker work and without shut` ting down the furnace.

2. In a regenerative glass furnace, the combination ofchecker chambers associated therewith, passages leading from said chambers to said furnace whereby certain of said chambers may be used to preheat the incoming gases and other chambers may receive the exhaust gases and absorb heat therefrom, removablel portions in the side wall of the checker chambers beneath said passages, segregated portions of checker Work adjacent thereto, whereby said portions may be removed and said segregated portions of worn checker work removed from said chambers as a unit Without shutting down the furnace.

' BANKS D. BROWN. 

